The wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Syria during the last 16 years have profoundly influenced who we are and what we do as scholars dealing with the art and material culture of antiquity. This talk draws heavily on the speaker’s own experiences with museums, foreign wars, and archaeology, beginning with a discussion of the ways in which the past now dominates the present, and followed by an overview of cultural heritage destruction and preservation programs in conflict zones. This leads to the subject of museums and repatriation requests in an age of increasing nationalism.